Witch Clan: Matriarchs by John Stormm (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📖

grandfather is waiting and probably worried sick about us. None of this is going to be easy to explain to him or anybody else.” Staves, wands and daypacks were retrieved as they all set off for the trail by the light of Emma’s staff. Gregory sat perched on Johnny’s pack and was washing himself off with a wet piece of linen that she gave him. She spoke to the piskie and was sure to visualized the things she was saying to him in her mind.

“You take as good a care of yourself,” she admonished said. “as you took good care of my family. I send my brightest blessings to you and yours for your help. That sword of yours, keep it oiled well, rust free and razor sharp and it will take good care of you too. We’re going to leave you the rest of the fruit and nuts before we leave, and if you’re as wise as I think you are, you’ll see that the seeds find some good ground to rest in and you’ll never lack for their blessings when they mature.” She pictured the pear tree sprouting flowers and then fruit.

Gregory nodded and carefully cleaned the blood off his sword blade with a piece of linen and then wrapped the blade in a piece and tucked it into his belt. As they made the trail, Johnny turned off to the right, in the direction of the gazing bowl camp. Somehow, Emma was not surprised.

Arriving at the campsite, Emma instructed the children to leave the treats for Gregory, on the rock slab with the gazing bowl scooped out of it. The piskie was splashing about in the bowl, getting all the blood out of his hair and fur tunic, his precious sword and other treasures heaped around him on the slab. Emma gave him a clean, dry piece of linen with which he toweled off and covered himself as he draped his wet furs over the stone edge to drip dry. In the makeshift, white linen toga, he looked like a dusky, little, sparrow winged angel standing there on the rock and watching them.

“Good bye, sweet prince,” Leona said, blowing him a kiss, and he swept her a deep courtier‘s bow.

Little Johnny left the Vough’s staff and wand in the makeshift shelter and faced Gregory. The boy made a fist and held it to his heart and then stretched out his hand, palm upwards to the piskie. Gregory, in turn, reached out his hand, palm downward and made a grasping motion and held it to his heart and they both bowed slightly to each other.

“I’ll never forget how you repaid me,” she said to the piskie, carefully visualizing her thoughts. “That was high honor if ever I saw it in a full sized man. No silly ‘Gregory the Peck’ for you, sirrah. I dub thee: Sir Gregory of the Shining Sword. A true hero.” She pronounced as she touched each of his shoulders lightly with his own tiny sword.

“I knew it,” Johnny said proudly.

Leona clapped her hands and the piskie bowed himself deeply to them all. With all the Sidhe that crossover near her home, Emma was sure he would be happier and safer here in his own world. Still, she would miss the mighty little mite. The overcast was breaking up in parts, and the beginning of the sun’s light was beginning to make itself known. The twilight before the dawn was upon them and little Johnny threw his head back, held out his arms and turned clockwise. No fireflies came out to cover him and fly away but a mist rose up from the ground and when it faded, they found themselves standing by the garden gate in her back yard.

Startled out of a half-sleep, Willard fell off the bench and picked himself up to his knees and hugged the kids as they rushed up to him.

“Oh, I was so worried about you,” he said with teary eyes. “I didn’t know what happened to you. I waited out here all night.” Emma set aside her now inert staff and came forward. He stood to embrace and she kissed him dearly.

“It couldn’t be helped, dear,” she apologized. “But the nightmares that plagued our house, won’t be returning again.”

“I’ll fix us all breakfast,” he said. “You all look awful, like you've been fighting in the trenches all last night. Why doesn’t everybody go inside and clean up. I’ll rustle us up some grub for my little cowpokes, and you can tell me all about your adventure. I’m sure it’ll be a doozey.”

It couldn’t be stopped. Nor would she if she could, but she laughed to see it happen. Little Johnny did his dance into the door of her summer kitchen. Turning to her, Leona shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes and danced inside behind him.

“You’d think they haven’t been home in days,” Willard remarked and Emma looked at him oddly.


Happy Birthday, Baby

Emma sat reading in the waiting room of the doctor's office. She had cleaned Leona's wound out as well as she could and still couldn't determine if the streaking was caused by poison or infection. Gods knew what else might have been stabbed with those nasty thorns and a good spectrum of antibiotics might be what she needed to beat the infection and keep it from becoming worse. Dr. Julius had been a family friend and physician for a long time, so she wasn't taking any chances with her granddaughter's health.

Johnny sat quietly by her side, and drew circles in his notebook every time the receptionist would reach up and scratch the side of her nose or chin. The wound on his forehead was fading fast and healing well. He'd had his tetanus shot only a couple months ago when he had stepped on a nail in the back yard. His only manifestation of the recent otherworldly adventure was a tiny scar in the middle of his high forehead and an intensity about staying close and trying to please his family. For all he had been through, he seemed very well adjusted. After what she pieced together from the two children, maybe too well.

He was like the cute little unicorn foal she had dreamed of. Cute, sweet, playful and eager to please. But Brother George had the measure of him when he took off his weapons and armor and approached the foal with the utmost respect. That little creature was a good deal more than just a horse with a horn. Everyday with him, she learned a little more about that fact. Where Johnny's differences tended to make most others uncomfortable in his presence, she loved him all the more.

Unlike her daughters, who tended to treat him like a poisonous reptile at times, Leona had demonstrated her extraordinary character in the way she had shown her love for her strange little cousin. What opportunities will be open to this newest generation? Things hadn't happened exactly like her mother had planned, but maybe they were even better. No doubt, she would've been so proud of them all.

Willard, the remarkable old carpenter, had listened to all their stories at the breakfast table when they had returned that morning. In places, he sat back, white faced with horror at what he had heard. He was outraged that anyone would be so cruel to his new family. He could hardly restrain himself from cursing at the Vough's wicked cunning. The fact that the family had been gone for many days and not for just the single day that passed here was no big surprise to him. He told the children tales of people going into fairy land for just an afternoon or an evening and coming back months or years later to find all had changed. He couldn't stop himself from hugging them all, he was so proud. He plopped Johnny's cowboy hat on his head and bounced him on his knee until the little lad was likely to develop saddle sores. Everyone had slept most of that day and Willard had waited on them hand and foot.

When Leona walked out of the examination room only a little worse for the wear, Emma looked up. Dr. Julius insisted upon at least one shot, and a prescription for some pills he wanted her to use up in the next few days. She even managed to obtain an extra sucker for her little cousin from the receptionist. Emma was relieved to hear that everything was alright and that her granddaughter would be going home in a couple weeks time, in the same good health she had arrived in and perhaps a little wiser. As they were leaving, she could not help but notice a rather hefty, old dowager who was trying to discreetly scratch the devil out of her backside.

“Johnny, stop that,” she scolded him quietly. “That’s not very nice.”

“Not me, Grandma,” he insisted. “Hammer-hoids.”

Emma put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh and ushered the children quickly out of the doctor’s office to the street. Walking down the street about a block, they turned left on North Street and went shopping downtown. She had to pick up a some school clothes for Johnny and thought the soda fountain at Neisner's would be a nice treat for the children. His sixth birthday was a week away, and if his cousin and Skip, the soda jerk, could keep him occupied for a short while, she had intentions of picking up a couple things he wouldn't notice in all the sacks they carried.

She scurried through the store and got him a birthday card with cowboys on it, and a Roy Rogers gun and holster set.